Hoping these ideas aren't too crazy, impossible, or undesirable for the majority here, though I realize all of those are possibilities. Inspiration for these is classic D&D rules that have to do with dungeon exploration which I think could serve Daggerfall well enough. And at the root of these rules is dungeon doors.
To start with what a layman like myself perceives as the simplest (I haven't the faintest what a line of code is meant to look like) we have keys. Plenty of dungeon doors are locked. Some magically, many with a plain old lock. Logically there should be keys to these doors, right? Right. Not for most, however. Most of these keys would be lost or damaged/rusted to the point of being useless, however what if occasionally you got a key from an enemy or loot pile in a dungeon that you could use to unlock any non-magically locked door you come across? Now, you might think that's not really worth the hassle seeing as locked doors to begin with aren't much of a hindrance (which is honestly the biggest reason I got to thinking about this). With that, onto the next idea.
So you know how to unlock a door, either with the good old-fashioned thief's touch or sprinkle of magic. Good for you! Quiet and efficient. But what if you're a hit-head-with-rock type simpleton? Well you have to rely on bashing them open, don't you? Batters your weapon a touch too, but is that really a big deal? What would be a big deal is if all that noise you make doing it actually did something. Something like "alerting" (probably spawning more) enemies to your location. Want to bash open a door in that daedra-infested dungeon? Sure, but best be ready for some extra trouble. So if you're not quite set for combat you'd best hope for a key, enchanted item with an "Open" spell... or that you don't need whatever's on the other side of that particular door.
Third idea. Sometimes the odds are just against you. Making the best of some nasty situations you don't have full control over is a big part of dungeon delving in my honest opinion. Savvy as you might be with the lockpick or Open spell, some doors are not barring access due to being locked. Some are just stuck. At that point brawn is your best bet. So what if doors had a tiny chance of just being stuck and needing a little thrashing before they open up?